Melaleuca mushrooms only grow after the first rains of the season in Melaleuca forests. The leaves and bark of the Melaleuca tree that fell in layers from the previous season have begun to turn into a layer of humus, which is a place for Melaleuca mushrooms to grow. Mealybugs are incubated in the humus layer. After the first rains of the season, small round mushrooms the size of little finger tips begin to stretch out of the shell and the melaleuca leaves that protect it from the previous season. Melaleuca mushroom begins to bloom gradually and lasts for more than a month, then the season is over. After one or two rains at the beginning of the season, people who make a living by picking mushrooms have begun to prepare to harvest melaleuca mushrooms. They go into the forest, visit areas to see where the mushrooms have started to grow, and within a week they can reach the place where the mushrooms are to be harvested. Usually they go with the whole family, work hard to pick all day until the basket is full before leaving.
In Phu Quoc, Tram Mushroom is cooked with shrimp, squid, pork ribs before being cooked, add a few duck eggs, then add some cilantro and enjoy. The taste of Melaleuca Mushroom is unmistakable, with a slightly bitter and crispy taste combined with the fresh seafood of Phu Quoc, there is nothing like it.
Phu Quoc herring salad:
In Phu Quoc, herring is caught almost all year round, so herring is always a fresh dish at the market. Herring is pre-cut and canned very cleanly so you can always find it easily.
Herring has a lot of protein, so when eating salad, people often sip it with Sim forest wine. Herring salad is also quite simple to prepare, after buying ready-made herring, you use vinegar to wash it, then squeeze lemon juice and mix it with thinly sliced onions and peppers. Served with herring is Phu Quoc forest vegetables, coconut, fish sauce is mixed as usual with roasted peanuts, if using genuine Phu Quoc fish sauce, the flavor will be much richer and more delicious.
From the rustic dishes of fishermen in Phu Quoc fishing village, herring salad has become a favorite dish of many diners. Not only that, herring salad is currently dominating the menus of restaurants and luxury restaurants in Phu Quoc. The rise of herring salad has contributed to enhancing the inherent beauty of Phu Quoc in the eyes of tourists. This helps Phu Quoc welcome diners with open arms, because herring salad and sim wine with Phu Quoc’s famous fish sauce will create an unforgettable brand when visiting Phu Quoc – an island. pearl of Vietnam.
Phu Quoc Sim Wine:
Sim wine is a specialty wine of Phu Quoc, Vietnam. Although myrtle trees are found in many places, myrtle in Phu Quoc has its own characteristics. Sim Phu Quoc usually ripens in the first lunar month. Raw myrtle fruits are washed, selected ripe fruits are pureed and fermented with granulated sugar at a certain rate in an anaerobic environment from 40 to 45 days. After the product is fully fermented, we will have a pink wine, with a sweet and sour taste like grape wine with a concentration of about 11.5.
Please note that the following wines are not considered myrtle wine: including fresh myrtle soaked directly in alcohol, myrtle (stems, roots and leaves) soaked in wine because traditional myrtle wine is a naturally fermented wine from myrtle fruit. In Phu Quoc, there are a number of families producing sim wine to supply to the tourist market on the island and have registered quality trademarks at the Department of Health of Kien Giang province such as Thanh Long sim wine, Sim Son wine.
Phu Quoc fish sauce:
Phu Quoc fish sauce is not only famous in Vietnam but also known in many countries around the world. Phu Quoc fish sauce is produced from the main ingredient of Phu Quoc anchovies, with a tradition of over 200 years. Fish sauce is produced in large wooden barrels, it acts as a fermentation tank in the beer industry but the fermentation time is longer, sometimes up to 1 year.
